As for Rivera, last season proved that the Yankees don’t particularly need him. With a deep stable of bullpen arms, holding leads after eight innings – Rivera’s only job – isn’t a big problem. And if the team doesn’t contend strongly, the extra one or two wins that Rivera gives them make no real difference anyway. But because most clubs continue to overvalue closers against all the evidence (95% of all ninth inning leads result in victories, rendering a top closer a marginal contributor), the Yanks could probably get a nice haul of young talent by dangling Rivera to a contender.

Conventional wisdom says this will never happen, because public relations rules dictate that Rivera must retire a Yankee. And his swansong season might be one of the few things that the club can market this year. Still, bad P.R. only lasts as long as it takes the club to reach its next World Series. The Yankees recovered well enough from their unpopular trade of an aging Babe Ruth to Boston in 1935 by winning four straight World Series from 1936 to 1939.

Maybe the Yankees will surprise people by holding it together for another season. Maybe 40-ish pitchers Pettitte and Hiroki Kuroda will stay healthy and team with CC Sabathia to form a solid starting rotation. Maybe veterans like Ichiro Suzuki , Kevin Youkillis and Vernon Wells will be productive enough to help Cano lead a decent offense, keeping the club above water until the reinforcements arrive from the disabled list.

Most likely, though, the club is going nowhere. Even Granderson (32) and Teixeira (33), the relative babies of the roster, are slipping incrementally past their primes. Studies appearing in publications like Baseball Prospectus show that a typical major leaguer peaks between the ages of 26 and 29. The Yankees have essentially no key players in that category. The club continues to force feed the model of perennial contention as it watches the core rot away. They still have a chance to reverse the trend – if they have the gumption to take a short-term hit.

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"Conventional wisdom says this will never happen, because public relations rules dictate that Rivera must retire a Yankee."

No, it will never happen because Rivera has 10 and 5 no-trade rights and he has no interest in playing elsewhere in his final season under any circumstances. So the Yankees bave nothing to do with it; who cares what they want, even in the silly-to-picture event that they WANTED to do it?

No, it will never happen because Rivera has 10 and 5 no-trade rights and he has no interest in playing elsewhere in his final season under any circumstances. So the Yankees bave nothing to do with it; who cares what they want, even in the silly-to-picture event that they WANTED to do it?

Rivera might be the best example in baseball of a guy who would not waive his trade rights.
Alfonso Soriano wouldn't waive them last year, either, but I wouldn't have laughed at you if you had speculated that enough money could make it happen. Maybe.

Play around .500 for the first month and a half, Jeter and Granderson come back and hopefully Teixeira comes back, nobody else gets hurt, and they're in contention in September.

Or: they get off to a bad start, or the injured guys take too long to get back, or they suffer more injuries, or the injured guys aren't that productive, and they're not a good team, and never contend.

Why eliminate any possibility of the first thing before the season starts?

Van Riper also estimates Cano will eventually agree to a new "well over $100 million" contract that will extend to around his "40th birthday, give or take". That's great news for the Yankees! Robbie's gonna give them such a generous hometown discount, they'll be sure to stay in contention for years to come!

i see no benefit in trading rivera whatsoever. he's only playing one more season, who cares?

cano they should have done this offseason if they were going to do a salary dump and/or get rid of him to maximize other pursuits. the rangers would probably have given him kinsler and a top prospect. they could have gotten any other 2b in the league, for cheaper, plus something else. or they could have gone straight up for a premium player with a similar contract at another position.

also, i don't like the make-it-so sentiment i'm seeing about players with the biggest contracts. they just say it will be a disappointment and repeat it ad nauseum as the player's career progresses. this one mentions pujols in that way. how has pujols failed yet? sure, last season wasn't quite as amazing as the previous years, but this season he might have totals right back at his high points for all we know. he might be as good as last year for the next decade. a-rod is more justified but i'd probably still pay him 10 mil a year and i fully expect him to make a good recovery from the injury. he may not get a chance because of off-the-field stuff but it's not like a-rod is a garbage player now.